Security is of paramount importance in the gaming field. Casinos must continually control access to and account for large sums of money, in the form of cash, chips, and the like. This task is made difficult by the number of people who must necessarily have access to and handle the money, including back room personnel, transportation personnel, dealers, and the like. It is a common practice in the gaming field to utilize tables, such as blackjack tables, craps tables, roulette tables, and the like, that are each equipped with a tray for holding chips. This tray is typically covered by a lockable glass, plastic, or metal lid or the like. The tray is fastened to the table, thereby securing the chips. A security lapse could potentially result in the loss of thousands of dollars or more. To deter theft, the personnel who are responsible for the movement of money (e.g. chips) generate reports detailing their actions and the actions of co-workers, therein providing a paper trail of who did what and when. The reports enable management to cross check the flow, access and people having responsibility for the chips. The more comprehensive the reports, the greater the deterrence. The cost in man-hours to generate the reports is a limiting factor, as the time cuts into the actual time available to perform the job of managing the tables. By way of example, a pit boss in a casino is responsible for the operation of multiple gambling tables, anywhere from 1 to 20 tables. If a table is closed the chips are typically locked in a chip tray with the lid locked. The chip tray is normally monitored by overhead cameras, whether the lid is on the tray or it is off. Most lids, while serving as a deterrent, are not designed to be impenetrable. When a dealer needs to gain access to the chips, he/she must request a manager (i.e. the pit boss or the like) to open up a table. The pit boss typically goes to a control room for a key to unlock and remove the chip tray lid. Before taking possession of the key the pit boss must sign out for the key. The pit boss is usually escorted by a guard and a second security person or another manager when taking the key to the table. The dealer will be present so that once access to the chips is gained he/she can start the game, and the dealer also wants to view the contents of the chip tray when it is opened to know the value of chips in the tray. Typically, the pit boss then returns the key to the key control room, where it is signed back in. Again, the pit boss is accompanied by one or more security personnel to ensure the safe return of the key. Typically, the key is unique or one of a very few, and if the key is missing the casino security protocol assumes that the key has been duplicated, and dictates that all of the tray locks must be changed. Replacing the locks is expensive, in part because of the cost of the lock, and in part because of the potential disruption to business. All chip trays accessible by the key are vulnerable, and the mindset of a casino is that if one key has been stolen, then the locks on all the chip trays should be changed.
What is needed is a gaming electronic security system that has comparable or greater security than the conventional manual key system, where the electronic security system automates the locking and unlocking of the lid covering the chip tray, so that under normal operating conditions manual keys are not used. Further what is needed is a system that monitors the status of the chip tray (i.e. whether the lid is in place and whether the lid is locked). Additionally desirable would be a system that selectively grants access, maintains a log of who initiates a request to access the chip tray, tracks when the chip tray lid was unlocked or locked, and monitors when the lid was removed or replaced. The system should also generate reports detailing the actions of the personnel who were present when the chip tray is locked or unlocked, and a historical record of the status of the chip tray over a specified period of time. In addition to maintaining comparable or greater security, the system should also retrofit existing chip trays and tables, and be substantially invisible to the players with no visible change in the layout of the gaming table. The system must be robust in that it is reliable and cost effective, and be compatible with a conventional manual key system, such that a chip tray can still be opened by a key. In the event that the changing the locks is necessary, then what is needed is a system that enables the new lock to be quickly converted to the electronic security system, such that there is minimal interruption of gaming. Ideally, the conversion would take place even when the table is in use.